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Academic Motivation and the Culture of Schooling

Academic Motivation and the Culture of Schooling

Integration of Findings

Chapter:

(p.286)
13 Academic Motivation and
the Culture of Schooling

Source:

Academic Motivation and the Culture of School in Childhood and
Adolescence

Author(s):

Adele Eskeles Gottfried

Publisher:

Oxford University Press

DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195326819.003.0013

Abstract and Keywords

While the previous chapter concentrated on the consistent themes presented in this book, this chapter focuses on examining the common threads visible in the findings about academic motivation and culture of schooling presented in this volume. It analyzes the convergence in results and conclusions both among chapters and across the entire volume as well. This chapter concludes with discussions of future directions in research and intervention strategies significant to the culture of schooling that might build on the findings from this volume and eventually inform both theory and practice.

This volume presents a discussion of school culture as a
construct that plays a potentially causal role in the academic
competence of diverse students. Maehr and Fyans (1989)
conceptualized motivational culture as pertaining to individual
differences between group members regarding their perceptions of the
motivational academic environment. The present volume expands beyond
this by examining the motivational culture of particular dimensions of
schooling from a variety of theoretical perspectives—across
varying ethnicities, developmental periods, and school contexts. Hence,
motivational culture of schooling is addressed as a multifaceted
construct. In this integration, findings are examined across the
chapters focusing on developmental and contextual aspects of motivation
in diverse groups of students; students' social cognitions, motivational
processes, and outcomes in school; and interventions to enhance academic
motivation.

The chapters by Rouse and Fantuzzo; Gottfried, Gottfried, Morris, and
Cook; and Thorkildsen, Golant, and Cambray-Engstrom address
developmental and contextual aspects of academic motivation and school
culture across age and grade, classroom context, and ethnicity. What is
notable is that despite differences among the investigations regarding
populations studied, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, gender, and
spe-cific type of academic motivation examined, the findings converge on
similar conclusions regarding the developmental role of academic
motivation in children's school achievement and competence, and in
helping to defining motivational school culture. Among the convergences
are these: (1) Motivational culture of schooling is not uniform but can
be
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expected to differ with regard to subgroups in
the school population. (2) Students with low academic motivation are
likely to be at risk with respect to their school competence from
childhood through early adulthood. (3) Motivational school culture
comprises classroom and school environments that may facilitate or
impede competence motivation, academic intrinsic motivation, and student
commitment to both autonomous and collective goals.

With regard to the first point, that motivational culture of schooling is
not uniform, across these chapters, subgroups of students evidenced
motivational differences that were related to varying levels and types
of engagement in the schooling process. For example, in the Rouse and
Fantuzzo chapter, children who were stronger in competence motivation
were more successful in their transitions from Head Start to
kindergarten and first grade. In the Gottfried et al. chapter, the
students with at-risk academic intrinsic motivation evidenced a
long-term history of poorer academic competence from childhood through
early adulthood. In the Thorkildsen et al. chapter, adolescents with
pluralistic civil identities (justice beliefs; commitment to community
obligations and personal autonomy) endorsed justice aspects of an ideal
school more strongly than adolescents in any of the three other identity
statuses and were more likely to endorse working hard as an activity in
which they engage. At the other extreme, adolescents with an unformed
identity (few goals; belief that world is unjust) were the least engaged
in school and the least likely to endorse ideal school aspects or
working hard. The latter students may be similar to those who are
motivationally at risk. From preschool through early adulthood, across
diverse ethnicities, socioeco-nomic statuses, classrooms, geographic
locations, and gender, differences in children's academic motivation
were found to be significantly related to their academic achievement,
beliefs, self-concepts, postsec-ondary educational accomplishments, and
perceptions of student roles. Hence, the motivational culture of school
is different for children who vary in these aspects inasmuch as their
interactions with their school environments will elicit different
outcomes. Even for students within the same classroom or school, their
level of academic motivation per se is likely to play a significant role
in defining their individual perspectives on motivational school
culture.

With regard to the second point about at-risk motivation as related to
educational performance, note first that academic motivation was a
statistically significant and independent factor with regard to
children's academic success. For example, Rouse and Fantuzzo cited
evidence
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that compared to other learning behaviors
(attention/persistence and attitude toward learning), competence
motivation during preschool was a better predictor of learning readiness
and achievement through grade 1; they also cite evidence that competence
motivation is distinct from general intelligence. A. E. Gottfried et al.
provide data revealing that from childhood through adolescence, children
evidencing at-risk academic intrinsic motivation showed a pervasive and
long-term history of poorer school competence across a wide range of
indices including achievement, intellectual performance, motivation,
classroom functioning, test-taking skills, self-esteem, academic
anxiety, and later, significantly less post-secondary educational
accomplishment. Moreover, at-risk motivational status and lower IQ were
found to be statistically independent of each other, a finding
consistent with others as discussed in their chapter indicating that
academic intrinsic motivation contributes to the prediction of
achievement independently of IQ and consistent with findings cited in
Rouse and Fantuzzo's chapter. In the Thorkildsen et al. chapter,
students with more diffused identity status were least likely to endorse
working hard in school, which suggests being academically at-risk.
Relating these findings to the issue of motivational school culture in
general, one can conclude that children and adolescents with lower
competency motivation and academic intrinsic motivation or those who are
more disengaged in goal orientation with regard to their identity status
are significantly compromised in academic competence and performance,
and these findings generalize across demographic groups. Regardless of
whether children were from socieconomically depressed families, as for
Head Start children (Rouse & Fantuzzo), from a wide middle
socio-economic class range (Gottfried et al.), or from a diverse group
of Latino adolescents (Thorkildsen et al.), the poorer the motivation,
the lower is the student's school competence. Regardless of ethnicity,
gender, or SES status, low motivational status places children at risk
for compromised school achievement and more limited educational
progress.

The effect of low motivation may be progressive—that is, it
may increase as students move through schooling. This was suggested by
Rouse and Fantuzzo, and also by Gottfried and colleagues who report in
their chapter that stability of academic intrinsic motivation increases
during adolescence making it more likely that these students will enter
adolescence with low motivation. On the positive side of motivation,
Rouse and Fantuzzo suggest that early and strong competence motivation
serves as a buffer against potential school failure. Thorkildsen and
colleagues suggest that students with a pluralistic form of identity
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evidence the highest school engagement. Pluralistic
identity appears to be more adaptive for developing an academic role.
Gottfried and colleagues report that from childhood though early
adulthood, those with high motivation are consistently more likely to
excel across a wide range of academic accomplishments.

With regard to the motivational school context, all three chapters argue
for and elaborate on creation of classroom environments that facilitate
motivational processes to enhance children's academic competence. The
emphasis across these chapters concerns teachers' roles in enhancing
curiosity, mastery, and commitment to group and autonomy goals. All
three chapters discuss development of curriculum to support students'
self-initiated, or autonomous, learning competencies. Therefore, primary
emphases regarding motivational school culture from the perspective of
these chapters converge on the nature of school environment, teacher
behaviors, and curriculum emphasizing interest, curiosity, mastery,
justice, and reflection.

Several chapters examined student perceptions of cultural bias and
stigmatization as members of underrepresented and often marginalized
groups and how such perceptions affect students' academic motivation,
achievement, and school engagement. In addition, the roles of teachers,
parents, and peers are considered as influences on such perceptions.
Another focus across chapters concerns the degree of continuity or
discontinuity between students' perceptions and school contexts
regarding academic motivation and expectations in relation to cultural
group membership and identity along with the impact of such continuities
and discontinuities on students' educational attainment.

In the Eccleston and Major chapter, the groups focused on are those shown
to predominantly experience stereotype threat, primarily African
American and female students. Hudley and Daoud's sample comprised Latino
and Anglo-American high school students. Romo, Kouyoumdjian, and
Lightfoot studied Latina girls attending alternative high schools, some
of whom were pregnant or already mothers. Irving's population comprised
African American male high school students. The ethnicities of the
Warzon and Ginsburg-Block sample were diverse, including African
American, Anglo-American, Asian American/Pacific Islander, Hispanic,
multiracial, Native American, and other students. Interestingly, across
these divergent groups, there was similarity in the way motivational
processes affected academic motivation and performance. This similarity
pertains to the impact of the students' perceptions of cultural,
normative, stereotyped, or stigmatizing views held by
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others on their school engagement and academic
performance. Across diverse groups, to the extent that students
perceived discrimination and bias, these perceptions were adversely
related to academic outcomes.

There are, however, important differences among the content of such
perceptions as each chapter carefully delineates. Eccleston and Major
discussed a large body of evidence regarding the effects of stereotype
threat on student performance. According to the authors, when negative
stereotypes of abilities are associated with cultural group membership,
such as for African Americans or women, these negative perceptions are
likely to diminish the academic engagement and performance of affected
students through anxiety produced by their perception of the stereotype.
Therefore, to the extent that the academic environment implicitly or
explicitly conveys such views, they are likely to be perceived as
associated with negative academic outcomes.

The research by Hudley and Daoud clearly makes this point with regard to
Latino and Anglo high school students. Their research provides evidence
that students who had low perceived levels of teacher support and
negative views of ethnic school climate showed significantly less school
engagement, such as higher absenteeism and number of detentions. These
negative perceptions were most detrimental for Latino students of lower
socioeconomic status. Complex relationships among perceptions, student
ethnicity, and socioeconomic status again bring home the point that
motivational school culture is not a uniform entity. Even within
ethnicity, students may hold different views of motivational school
culture depending on their experiences and perceptions of acceptance by
teachers and peers. Interestingly, in the interviews presented by Hudley
and Daoud, members of underrepresented and mainstream ethnic groups
reported adverse perceptions about the cultural atmosphere of the
school. This needs to be addressed if schools are to create a
synergistic cultural atmosphere among students in which all are able to
express, elaborate, and collectively address often conflicting
perspectives.

Irving's chapter concerns perceptions of cultural mistrust in African
American male high school students and their impact on academic
expectations and values using an expectancy-value perspective of
motivation. Cultural mistrust is defined in this research as the
tendency of African Americans to distrust White Americans in
institutional, personal, or social contexts. It concerns the perception
of racism and relegation to underclass status. Results were complex,
showing that cultural mistrust was associated with higher outcome
expectation but lower academic
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achievement. This
complexity may indicate that cultural mistrust works in both positive
and negative fashion to increase efforts to achieve and overcome racial
stereotypes; at the same time it is possible that cultural mistrust
activates perceptions of stereotype threat that has been shown to
adversely affect academic achievement. Again, the cultural context of
schools does not have a uniform effect on motivation and achievement but
can be expected to play a different role with regard to distinct
motivational indices, such as academic outcome expectations and
achievement.

Romo, Kouyoumdjian, and Lightfoot's work emphasized the importance of
both peer culture and parental attitudes as influences on attitudes
toward pregnancy and academic aspirations in Latina girls attending an
alternative high school. Their results showed that the peer group has a
pervasive influence on such attitudes, particularly with regard to the
desirability of pregnancy and teenage parenthood. Girls' attitudes
toward pregnancy and parenthood were most favorable and their academic
aspirations lowest when they perceived their friends as positive toward
pregnancy and parenthood. Girls who perceived their own parents'
attitudes as negative regarding teenage pregnancy and parenting had the
strongest aspirations to pursue higher education. Overall, these
findings bring home the importance of peers and parents as sources of
students' value perceptions and as influencing academic aspirations.
Romo et al. link these perceptions to the norms of the school culture of
the alternative school the girls attended inasmuch as there was a
normative presence of teenage pregnancy and parenthood in the school.
Despite this, parents may play an important role as well. Relating this
to an expectancy-value model of motivation, the authors suggested that
such perceptions affect students' values and choices regarding
furthering their education.

The research by Warzon and Ginsburg-Block also shows the complexity of
cultural continuity and discontinuity perceptions in the context of
family-school relationships. They report on a Cultural Continuity
Project, a study including an ethnically mixed sample, in which the
perceptions of parents, teachers, and students were related to students'
academic motivation and reading fluency. The results of their research
show divergence depending on the respondent. For example, families
reported the greatest satisfaction with the family-school relationship
when they perceived the family-school environment as continuous, and
when the teachers perceived family-school relationships as
discontinuous. Warzon and Ginsburg-Block suggested that perhaps
teachers'
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perceptions of discontinuity helped them
work to create a more continuous and sensitive classroom experience for
the families. Regarding students, the more home-school continuity they
perceived, the more positive was their academic motivation and the
higher was their reading fluency. As in the other chapters, student
perceptions of cultural school environment are important for student
motivation and achievement. The authors propose that cultural awareness
may best be considered as a component of good instructional practices in
order for teachers to be sensitive to cultural discontinuity and to
create culturally sensitive classes.

These chapters advance knowledge regarding the importance of the cultural
context of the school environment with regard to student engagement,
motivation, and achievement. One conclusion that can be made is that
across the diverse ethnicities studied, continuities and discontinuities
between students' perceptions of home and school environments can be
expected to be significantly related to various aspects of school
engagement, achievement, and behaviors. Conversely, the complexity of
findings across chapters indicates that such perceptions are likely to
be modified by the specific aspects of school environments in which
students, peers, teachers, families, and even surrounding neighborhoods
play a role in shaping perceptions. Therefore, an ecological approach
(e.g., Bronfenbrenner, 1979) is
needed to understand the intricacies of interactions between students'
academic motivation and motivational school culture. There is likely to
be much distinction between schools, and it is important for such
specificities to be accounted for in theory, research, and practice.

Intervention programs are addressed by Welch, and Ginsburg-Block,
Rohrbeck, Lavigne, and Fantuzzo. Welch described an intervention project
that emphasized the important role of the teacher in facilitating a
shared community of respect essential to students' development of a
scholar identity that can provide a pathway to academic and life
success. This project was conducted in the context of a 9-year study,
Project EXCEL, aimed at helping educationally disadvantaged adolescents
learn to define themselves as scholars and to pursue higher education.
For African American students, this included an effort to counteract
stereotypes regarding intellectual inferiority. This project also
included other students who saw themselves on the outskirts of school
life. The focus of the intervention program was on teacher-student
interactions that emphasized an atmosphere of inquiry and respect
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for self and the diversity of others with regard to
the development of students' self-concepts of scholarship.

In the chapter, descriptions of classroom processes are presented
involving questioning and sharing of opinions and personal perspectives.
Students' contributions were valued, and misperceptions were clarified
in class. Welch concludes that the class community of respect helps
develop a scholar identity. Students were asked to write a paper
describing how their identities had changed over the year. Examples
provided emphasized an increase in students' curiosity for new
experiences. Positive self-concept of racial identity and achievement
were also focused on. Students' desire to change the community's
perception of the school from an institution of underachievers to a
place of academic accomplishment was also discussed.

Welch reported that all EXCEL students graduated from high school and
were qualified to attend college. Students who had attained a scholar
identity described themselves as successful and were likely to attend
college, enter the military, or begin job training. Welch suggested that
teacher training may benefit from analyzing a community of respect as
part of school culture. Consistent with the ecological analysis offered
above, the author discussed the role of the school in the larger
community. Students were aware of the adverse views of the school held
by the larger community and believed these negative views were reasons
the school received fewer resources. Nevertheless, in seeking to define
their scholar identity, they needed to understand such views and to go
beyond them.

Ginsburg-Block, Rohrbeck, Lavigne, and Fantuzzo advance the theoretical
and empirical bases for peer-assisted learning as a means to enhance
academic motivation among diverse students. As proposed in their
chapter, in the context of theory, peer interaction is facilitative of
children's learning because the students involved are in the same zone
of proximal development (Vygotsky) and provide each other the cognitive
conflict necessary for moving to a higher level of learning (Piaget).
Social learning theory is also a foundation for peer-assisted learning
as peers are likely to be suitable models for one another in learning
new behaviors (Bandura). Practices based on a peer-assisted curriculum
include individualizing curriculum, establishing mastery goals based on
individual improvement instead of group goals, scaffolding learning, and
providing for autonomy. A host of results are cited in this chapter
supporting the importance of peer-assisted learning instruction as a
facilitator of
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academic motivation and performance
including achievement, intrinsic motivation, social and self-concepts,
competence, and behaviors. Based on the results of two meta-analyses
examining motivation as an independent variable with regard to the
effects of peer-assisted learning, the authors conclude that the social
(e.g., pro-academic norms among students) and intrinsic motivational
aspects of peer-assisted instruction significantly contribute to
cognitive and behavioral engagement that thereby indirectly enhance
academic outcomes.

Ginsburg-Block et al. present a third meta-analyses in which motivation
is examined as an outcome of rather than a contributor to peer-assisted
learning in elementary school students. Results of this meta-analysis
indicate positive effects of peer-assisted learning on motivation, with
stronger effects for samples they term as vulnerable including students
who are of minority status, of lower socioeconomic status, and attending
urban schools. Programs including multiple features that would be
expected to enhance motivation had stronger ef fects than those with
fewer components. The authors suggest incorporating motivational
strategies within peer-assisted learning programs, such as
interdependent reward contingencies, individualized curriculum materials
and evaluation strategies, structured student roles, and
self-management. With regard to school culture, Ginsburg-Block et al.
suggest that peer-assisted learning develops social motivation for
academic norms as well as emphasizing communal views of learning rather
than competition and individualistic reward structures. Communal values
were noted to be more consistent with the values of the homes of
un-derrepresented students such as African American and Latino families.
Because peer-assisted learning appears to incorporate social and
intrinsic motivation processes, the authors further suggest that for
children already strong in those areas, peer-assisted learning is less
likely to have an effect. A number of different peer-assisted models are
described.

Conclusions: Academic Motivation and the Culture of Schooling

Whereas these two latter chapters address, describe, and cite
evidence for the effectiveness of specific program models designed to
enhance academic motivation in diverse populations of students, there
are also intervention implications that emanate from the other studies
in this volume. If one were to define an optimal motivational culture of
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schooling, collectively, all of the studies
converge on the importance of the motivational environment of
educational settings including the various ecological levels of schools
as a whole, classrooms, families, peers, and students. The implications
for practice pertain to teacher training. For example, it is important
for teachers' motivational strategies to enhance student academic
motivation in its various theoretical orientations that may include
opportunities to experience excitement about learning and student
autonomy; students' perceptions of teachers' sup-portiveness, respect,
and understanding of their cultural background; and enhancement of
collective efficacy and identity among students to promote the norm of
student academic engagement. All chapters also stress that educators
must be sensitive to students' motivations, identities, and social
perceptions—their sense of competence, being at risk for
academic intrinsic motivation, stereotype threats regarding ethnicity
and gender, marginalization and oppression, influence of peer norms, and
disengagement. In essence, teachers must learn how to take the role of
the students and perceive the school environment as their students do.
Learning activities, curriculum, and classroom and school motivational
activities need to be planned accordingly.

Based on the contributions of each author, it can be concluded that there
is no single motivational culture of schools. Generalizations can be
made about the manner in which motivation and cultural beliefs may
affect various students' levels of engagement, but the results and
analyses presented show clearly that the essence of motivational culture
of schooling resides with the individual students in their interactions
with the specific nature of the educational environment in which they
are embedded. Motivational school culture must incorporate an
understanding of the individual students' experiences in addition to
knowledge about their home cultures and learning orientations. The
populations represented across chapters vary in age from preschool
through high school, college, and into adulthood and include a spectrum
of cultural groups and socioeconomic status; therefore, the generality
of these conclusions applies broadly across the student population.
Research should continue to delineate these specific relationships.

Finally, who is responsible for implementing an approach tailored to each
child? Facilitating a detailed and scientifically informed approach
toward implementing motivational school culture responsive to individual
children necessitates a coordinated effort among scientists and
researchers who need to continue contributing research in this field;
academic faculty involved with training educators; school personnel
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including administrators, teachers, school
psychologists, counselors, and others; families and peers who need to be
included in the process; and students who will both benefit from the
coordination of these efforts and who will contribute to their solution
through the development of their motivational and cultural inputs to
education. With the combined efforts of all, a multidisciplinary
approach can be taken to continue to refine academic motivation and the
culture of schooling for the betterment of children, families, schools,
and our society as a whole.

PRINTED FROM OXFORD SCHOLARSHIP ONLINE (www.oxfordscholarship.com). (c) Copyright Oxford University Press, 2018. All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a PDF of a single chapter of a monograph in OSO for personal use (for details see www.oxfordscholarship.com/page/privacy-policy). Subscriber: null; date: 21 January 2019